Dr. Anthony Fauci cast doubts Tuesday on whether life would be back to normal by March 2022 as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“I don’t think we’re going to be completely normal a year from now,” Fauci said. “But I hope we’re well on the way to normality so that we can ultimately get the world protected at the same time as we get economic recovery so that all the unintended consequences of shutting down begin to normalize, including other health issues that have arisen because of the shutdown.”
Fauci spoke about the fight against the coronavirus during an event organized by the University of Edinburgh.
His comments clash with President Joe Biden’s prediction Tuesday life would be mostly back to normal in March 2022.
“I’ve been cautioned not to give an answer to that because we don’t know for sure,” Biden said to a reporter. “But my hope is by this time next year, we’re going to be back to normal and before that. I hope.”
Fauci warned of new variants of the virus that would continue to spread, despite efforts to stop it.
“Sooner or later, the variants, the new lineages the mutants will come back and rekindle the outbreak, even in countries that seem to have it under control,” he said.
He warned against governments reopening their societies and economies too quickly.
“What I often say is, if we jump the gun or do it too quickly, what happens is that you can get a resurgence of infection,” he said, adding that there was significant risk in doing so. “It’s very risky – if you go too fast, you’ll have a setback.”
Story cited here.
